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EU plug, UK socket

We spend 60 years in the EU thingy and they can't even standardise plugs. I thought that was what the EU was for. Where's Jacques Delors when you need him?

That reads like 'Peter Simple' in the Daily Telegraph c 1986, getting a bit worked-up at the very idea of a single European lightbulb.

heaven forfend!



(PS Harry & Janet Nodule found several new sources of traffic jams to call home in the intervening decades ...)
 
That reads like 'Peter Simple' in the Daily Telegraph c 1986, getting a bit worked-up at the very idea of a single European lightbulb.

heaven forfend!
On this subject, what the bloody hell has happened to lightbulb standards in the last few years? You used to buy bayonet fittings in various power outputs, job done. You now have MR 11, 16, Christ knows what else, pushins, stepped pins that push and twist, screw fittings in 2 or more sizes, it goes on for bloody ever! I have boxloads of the things and I need 20 minutes with a notepad and a caliper to work out what fitting I need next.
 
Correct. I don't know the German ones but Italian and French plugs are different, though they look similar. Very similar in fact, to the point where you wonder why they won't fit.
In Italy there are (at least) two different sizes. Larger pins and spacing for higher current devices, smaller for lesser current. Reminiscent of the old 5/15 amp round pin UK plugs and sockets.
 
The way things are going at the moment, you'll soon need to get a sparky to sign off on that job and issue you with a Certificate of Compliance.

Get on with it before it's too late!

That safety regulation has already been bonfired post-Brexit.

Like all the others will be if they get in the way of Conservatives making money.

Stephen
 
I did open this thread thinking it was a metaphorical statement about the UK's relationship with the EU.

It's actually a good one as I think we're about to get shafted.

Stephen
 
In Italy there are (at least) two different sizes. Larger pins and spacing for higher current devices, smaller for lesser current. Reminiscent of the old 5/15 amp round pin UK plugs and sockets.
And don't forget the dinky little 3 amp round pin plug.

I think that when the UK came up with our current three pin plug/socket system we really were still world class.
 
And don't forget the dinky little 3 amp round pin plug.

I think that when the UK came up with our current three pin plug/socket system we really were still world class.

2A I think it was/is, BS 546. We had to use them in our student HoR so we couldn't use irons - as if ;)
 
That reads like 'Peter Simple' in the Daily Telegraph c 1986, getting a bit worked-up at the very idea of a single European lightbulb.

heaven forfend!



(PS Harry & Janet Nodule found several new sources of traffic jams to call home in the intervening decades ...)
You can guarantee that had they tried to standardise plugs, it would have been the festival of “why oh why” in The Sun and “first they came for our bananas, now they’re takin our plugs” or “German plot to flood Britain with electrical appliances that actually work”.
 
remember when you used to buy electrical stuff with no plug on it?

I found a new in box stick blender at a carbootie, never opened from the early 80s, no plug just a blue and brown cable ready for you to pop to tandy to get the plug.

Strip the wires back, three wooden Swan matches (used if you were safety conscious), jam them straight into the wall socket. Problem solved.
 
Strip the wires back, three wooden Swan matches (used if you were safety conscious), jam them straight into the wall socket. Problem solved.

Only one match required, use it to move the earth pin downwards and the live and neutral will open up as well allowing the wires to be inserted, removing the match causes the pins to grip the bare wires for safety.
 
On this subject, what the bloody hell has happened to lightbulb standards in the last few years? You used to buy bayonet fittings in various power outputs, job done. You now have MR 11, 16, Christ knows what else, pushins, stepped pins that push and twist, screw fittings in 2 or more sizes, it goes on for bloody ever! I have boxloads of the things and I need 20 minutes with a notepad and a caliper to work out what fitting I need next.

Yet all the fittings for all the lamps listed above are still lethal to young fingers when switched on without a bulb in. I can’t quite believe this in 2020.
 
Only one match required, use it to move the earth pin downwards and the live and neutral will open up as well allowing the wires to be inserted, removing the match causes the pins to grip the bare wires for safety.

In most cheap sockets that's very true, but not in a decent MK socket - all pins have to be inserted. Here's some quality geekery...

 
Yet all the fittings for all the lamps listed above are still lethal to young fingers when switched on without a bulb in. I can’t quite believe this in 2020.

Not entirely true, modern switched bayonet lampholders are arranged so that you can`t move the crossbar to the on position unless a bulb is already fitted.

In any case once we have a trade deal with trump all our bulbs will be (Edison) screwed.
 
In most cheap sockets that's very true, but not in a decent MK socket - all pins have to be inserted. Here's some quality geekery...


The approved method is to offer the bare ends to the shuttered socket and then force them home with a plug. It`s important to use an old style BS 1363 plug, with a BS 1363A type you run the risk of the pin sleeve insulators blocking the connection.
 
Correct. I don't know the German ones but Italian and French plugs are different, though they look similar. Very similar in fact, to the point where you wonder why they won't fit.
You need to push harder! That's what I do in our hovel Greece.
 


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